Chanel: Karl’s final apres-ski

At Paris Fashion Week today: Chanel’s Fall 2019 presentation, presumably the last Karl Lagerfeld would have worked on extensively, so it was an emotional tribute featuring many of his muses, a moment of silence at the beginning, and then Karl’s voice echoing through the Grand Palais, talking about his time at Chanel.

As always where a Chanel show is concerned, the Grand Palais reflects the collection. They’ve built a rocket in there. They’ve turned it into a lush garden, a beach, a grocery store – this time, the Grand Palais was transformed into a ski resort. Theme: chalet fashion and apres-ski style. Look at this. It’s f-cking amazing. And the clothes, as usual, are gorgeous. Roomy too with bigger shoulders, slouchier fits, long loose and drapey pants. My favourite? This f-cking catsuit on Kristen Stewart: patterned to look like Chanel signature quilting (like one of their bags), with the logo plastered everywhere but not too obnoxiously (at least not to me), and it’s CUT LIKE A SKI SUIT, complete with the zipper that gets pulled down as soon as they come down the mountain! Khloe Kardashian is going to get her hands on this and ruin it for everyone.

Kristen was front row at the show sitting beside Janelle Monae. Fellow brand ambassador Penelope Cruz was on the runway, modelling Chanel’s version of a ski bunny outfit. Cara Delevingne walked too, while two other Karl favourites, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer, were also in the audience for what looked like a spectacle of final collection before Virginie Viard likely shows her first work later this year, though there’s some speculation that Karl was working ahead and that his influence may well be seen when Chanel Resort is shown in a couple of months.